Atlanta Braves: Injury holds Dansby Swanson back from breakout season

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ATLANTA, GEORGIA – OCTOBER 03: Dansby Swanson #7 of the Atlanta Braves throws out the runner against the St. Louis Cardinals during the eighth inning in game one of the National League Division Series at SunTrust Park on October 03, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images) /

Defense takes a step back

Even in a lackluster 2018 season for Dansby, the one thing we could all hang our hat on was the fact that he played Gold Glove caliber defense.

Despite only hitting .238 in 2018, Swanson finished fifth in all of baseball among shortstops with a defensive WAR of 11.3, according to FanGraphs.

He dropped all the way to 20th in that category this year with a negative defensive WAR of 0.8.

While I’ll be honest and tell you I don’t know exactly how FanGraphs comes up with that number, as someone who watched almost every game, it was very evident that Dansby was not the same player on defense in 2019.

His fielding percentage didn’t drop significantly going from .981 to .976, but he also wasn’t getting to balls that he got to in 2018.

I just don’t recall seeing nearly as many highlight plays this season.

And I’ve gone on record as saying I think the Atlanta Braves are one of the worst teams in baseball in infield positioning. It always seemed like the ball went where the Braves infield wasn’t, but maybe that’s just me noticing it more when it doesn’t go our way.

Still, there is no question that Dansby wasn’t nearly as good on defense in 2019. Now the question remains, is Dansby a Gold Glove-caliber defender at short or just an average one?

I certainly think the floor is an average defensive shortstop. But if that’s the case, he has to excel at the plate to make up for what he lacks defensively.

Going into 2020 we simply still need to see more from Dansby on defense to see what the Atlanta Braves have at shortstop.

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